What happens to untreated gangrene, anyway?One official said that almost all of the critical threat-related information from Abu Zubaida was obtained during the period when he was questioned by Soufan at a hospital in Pakistan, well before he was interrogated by the CIA and waterboarded 83 times.Information obtained by Soufan, however, was passed up through the ranks of the U.S. intelligence community, the Justice Department and Congress as though it were part of what CIA interrogators had obtained, according to the committee report.“The CIA conflated what was gotten when, which led them to misrepresent the effectiveness of the program,” said a second U.S. official who has reviewed the report. The official described the persistence of such misstatements as among “the most damaging” of the committee’s conclusions.Detainees’ credentials also were exaggerated, officials said. Agency officials described Abu Zubaida as a senior al-Qaeda operative — and, therefore, someone who warranted coercive techniques — although experts later determined that he was essentially a facilitator who helped guide recruits to al-Qaeda training camps.The CIA also oversold the role of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen, which killed 17 U.S. sailors. CIA officials claimed he was the “mastermind.”The committee described a similar sequence in the interrogation of Hassan Ghul, an al-Qaeda operative who provided a critical lead in the search for bin Laden: the fact that the al-Qaeda leader’s most trusted courier used the moniker “al-Kuwaiti.”But Ghul disclosed that detail while being interrogated by Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq who posed questions scripted by CIA analysts. The information from that period was subsequently conflated with lesser intelligence gathered from Ghul at a secret CIA prison in Romania, officials said. Ghul was later turned over to authorities in Pakistan, where he was subsequently released. He was killed by a CIA drone strike in 2012.
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
Torture Report: Time For Obama To Start Looking Backward
Our intelligence services have developed a culture of impunity; the only transgressions that ever get prosecuted are "leaks" from whistleblowers exposing the rampant violation of our laws, international law, and the Constitution. It's long past time for Obama to start "looking backward" . . . these unprosecuted crimes have infected our institutions like gangrene. And it's not just the rank-and-file torturer that smust be charged, but also the executive level leaders and the politicians of the Bush administration that must be held to account. And the lawyers who gave them cover. John Yoo, for example, should be prosecuted, disbarred, and imprisoned. Instead he's teaching law.
Monday, March 31, 2014
K-cupocalypse
The single serve coffee pods popular with office kitchens and harried home coffee makers pack a convenient punch of caffeine in each of their foil-topped cups, and they've become a big hit since they hit the market a few years ago. Popularized by the Keurig brand, the cups have dramatically increased in popularity, more than tripling sales since 2011. But with all that convenience comes the dark side of disposal, with gargantuan amounts of pod trash generated annually.
Sunday, March 30, 2014
$500K Is A Lot Of Money
The only better compensated public radio CEO I could track down is WNYC 's Laura Walker, who makes $530,983. For what it's worth, Gawker has called Walker's compensation "high" and "out of whack with the rest of the station's salary structure."
What's the rationale for the non-profit public radio executive in Philly making more than the mayor, the governor or the President?
A Water Fountain That Works
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| Put your water bottle on that little gray pad under the spout in the back, and it automatically fills in seconds. |
equipment in the last 20 years. No longer will you wait behind the person painfully filling their giant water bottle from a trickle out of the regular fountain.
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Beware! Convincing iTunes Phishing Scam Going Around
Fortunately, I am extremely wary of just about any email that I'm not expecting. And in my case, I know for a fact that I have blocked In-App purchase religiously on every device we own. A $200 charge on one's credit card courtesy of a couple of pre-teen kids buying "brains" will make one vigilant for the rest of one's life. Apple refunded that charge with an apology, that crappy game was swiftly deleted, and I've not had a problem since. All of which is just a prologue for the story here, which is this phishing email I received yesterday:
If you do want to be sure that the good people at Apple are offering you an unsolicited attempt to clawback a child's purchase, just open up iTunes, go to My Account, and look at your recent purchases. But for god's sake don't click a link in some unexpected email.
It is true that this can be a problem. But you'll have a much bigger problem on your hands if you click on anything in this deceitful spammer's message. Now of course, I'm not going to include the offending links. But the graphics, the spoofed email address, even the font all look pretty professional. I'm sure they're getting quite a few people with this evil ruse. Don't be one of them.
Dear iTunes account owner, Apple is committed to providing parents and kids with a great experience on the App Store. We
review all app content before allowing it on our store, provide a wide range of age-appropriate
content, and include parental controls in iOS to make it easy for parents to restrict or disable
access to content.We’ve heard from some customers that it was too easy for their kids to make in-app purchases.
As a result, we’ve improved controls for parents so they can better manage their children’s
purchases, or restrict them entirely. Additionally, we are offering refunds in certain cases.Our records show that you made some in-app purchases, and if any of these were unauthorized purchases by a minor, you might be eligible for a refund from Apple. Please follow the steps below to submit a refund request:
If you do want to be sure that the good people at Apple are offering you an unsolicited attempt to clawback a child's purchase, just open up iTunes, go to My Account, and look at your recent purchases. But for god's sake don't click a link in some unexpected email.
Friday, March 28, 2014
Jethro Tull Primer
Note: Launch this Spotify play list, to hear the songs as they are discussed. Spotify link A SONG FOR JEFFREY Purists believe the initial album is best, "This Was," the one before Mick Abrahams lef…
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Shared from the Digg iPhone app
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Typos courtesy of my iPhone
Christie Henchman David Samson Resigns from PANYNJ
Mr. Samson, a prominent lawyer and close Christie ally, declined to be interviewed by the lawyers who were commissioned by the governor. . The report has been criticized by Democrats as not being thorough and designed soley to exonerate Mr. Christie. Mr. Christie said that Mr. Samson had raised the subject of retiring well before the scandal erupted and there was nothing to indicate that he had done anything wrong. “I think that his role was not central in any of these things, nor has it ever been alleged that his role was central,” Mr. Christie said. “He is 74 years old and he is tired,” he said. Mr. Samson, who was appointed by Mr. Christie to the authority’s board in 2011, issued a statement shortly after Mr. Christie made the announcement. “Over the past months, I have shared with the Governor my desire to conclude my service to the PANYNJ,” Mr. Samson said in thestatement. “The timing is now right, and I am confident that the Governor will put new leadership in place to address the many challenges ahead.” Mr. Samson came under scrutiny after emails were made public showing that Mr. Samson derided his New York counterpart at the authority, who ordered the lanes reopened.
I haven't bothered to write about Gibson Dunn/Randy Mastro's joke of an exoneration report for Chris Christie. Let's just say I am not at all convinced by what they put out.
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